Thursday, March 30, 2017

The Best Things in Life are Free - 1956

The Best Thingsin Life are Free
(1956) is a delightful entry in the "musicals about composers" genre,
presenting an array of Broadway tunes from the team of Buddy DeSilva, Ray Henderson,
and Lew Brown. What I particularly like about this movie is it illustrates (probably
inadvertently) the enormous impact of Broadway in the 1920s on American pop
music.

In
this era, Broadway brought us the tunes on the radio, tunes played by the dance
bands, and records played on the Victrola. These three gentlemen were
responsible for much of that – as the prologue tells us – “for seven years they
were the hit songs of the nation.”

Songs
like “Button Up Your Overcoat;” “This is My Lucky Day;” “Good News;” “Black Bottom;”
and, of course, “The Best Things in Life are Free.” Gordon MacRae and Ernest Borgnine
play the team of Buddy DeSilva and Lew Brown. They are polar opposites – MacRae
is charming, ambitious, and Borgnine is the sour, grumpy, hot-headed pessimist
– but with the secret heart of gold. Though MacRae is the more pleasant fellow,
he will prove to look out more for himself and less for the needs of his
partners.

Dan
Dailey joins the boys as their third partner – and affable family man who works
several jobs to support his wife and kids, and who wants a career in popular
music composing. Sheree North is a chorine in their latest show, and she’s also
Dan Dailey’s sister-in-law.She is part
cheerleader and part mascot of the group.

Through
the course of the 1920s the boys turn out a string of hits and their fame grows
on Broadway. Happily, the songs are presented in their entirety and not just a fast blur of montage clips. Eventually, of course, Hollywood calls, and this will bring out
the breakup of the group as MacRae yearns to strike out on his own for greener
pastures and leaves his pals behind (DeSilva founded Capitol Records). Sheree
North is stuck on Gordon, but he is less attentive and she gets the message,
sensibly keeping herself at a safe distance from any more hurt. Ultimately, the
crew reunites in an effort to start all over again – and though that is a
pleasant end to the film, there perhaps could have been more, like some portent
that these were the last golden days on Broadway in the late 1920s – the Depression
would bring an end to the party on the great White Way.

Sheree
North is a terrific dancer, but her singing is dubbed by Eileen Wilson. Some of the dance numbers are quite daringly
surrealistic and erotic.Dan Dailey adds
much to the story as the linchpin to MacRae and Borgnine, but it is not one of
his song and dance man roles. He’s mostly sitting behind the piano.

Gordon
MacRae is one of my favorites; that rich, baritone voice is fantastic. For
Gordon MacRae fans, check out his performances on radio’s The Railroad Hour
which are available for download on the Internet
Archive – it’s in public domain – for probably the best examples of his
marvelous singing voice. The productions are very challenging condensed
operettas and musical stage shows, with some terrific guest stars. One of my
favorites is his
rendition of Brigadoon costarring
Jane Powell.

Ernest
Borgnine is a pleasing surprise in this movie. The gruff palooka with the heart
of gold is stuck on Sheree North. It’s
a disappointment they didn’t end up with each other, as he proves to be a quite
gentle family man underneath it all, visiting Dan Dailey’s family for a taste
of home life.

But
Ernie loses the girl to Gordon MacRae. No surprise, with the way old movies run,
and perhaps he is no Gordon MacRae in his singing either, but I got a huge kick
out of listening to him sing. His range is very limited, but the tone of his
voice kept purposely at a soft register reminds me a little of Nat King Cole’s
style. Ernie can actually harmonize.

John
O’Hara wrote the script and the wonderful Michael Curtiz directs, so as far as
musicals about musical composers go, this one has quality. All the numbers are
performed in the setting of stage numbers so moving from one song to the next
is quite natural. And they are great tunes. An amusing segment is when
the boys are asked by Al Jolson to write a song especially for him, and as a
practical joke they come up with what they think is the worst song imaginable
with the stupidest lyrics – “Sonny Boy.” They laugh their heads off as they write it. And what do you know? Jolson loves it,
puts it in his act, and it became the huge hit that those of us who are
familiar with the American songbook recall.

Bob the Bear - a picture book by my twin brother & Me

Read Arte Acher's Falling Circus

Recent Comments on Past Posts:

It Happened to Jane is special to my family. My mother was selected to play the wife of Aaron Caldwell, the Chester town selectman in the movie and has a speaking part about the parking meter revenues gathered from outside his general store in the town center. My older brother was one of the cub scouts delivering coal donated by town residents to fuel Old 97. We grew up in Deep River. A few years ago a niece provided every member of music family copies of It Happened to Jane on DVD. The Connecticut River valley was truly an idyllic spot for growing up in the mid-Twentieth Century!

Thank you, the Lux Theatre broadcast was absolutely marvelous, and far superior, as you have indicated, the film. I have always admired Dorothy McGuire, and she has it all over Jean Peters. This is not as clear cut a differential between Joseph Cotton and Dan Dailey, but at this point in their grand careers, I will take Dan. Again thank you.

I jus watched this and I have to agree... the ending let me down. She left Howard Keel!!!! I've had a crush on him since seeing Seven Brides when I was 10.I did love the message that Rose Marie can be herself.But I'm still sad. Seriously, Rose Marie, you chose the wrong man.

My wife and I go back two decades for our love of “Remember the Night” and its heartwarming story...P.S. As I type these words I am reminded of the inscription my wife had engraved inside the wedding ring I now wear… “Remember The Night.”

Beautiful piece, Jacqueline, about yet another movie from the Unjustly Forgotten file. I agree a video release is decades overdue, (What is wrong with Universal Home Video? You'd think the only movies they ever made were monsters and Abbott & Costello. And don't even get me started on the pre-'48 Paramounts they're sitting on.) I count myself lucky to have scored a decent 16mm print on eBay some years back; otherwise it would have been a good 40 years since I saw it.

I happened upon this piece and wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed reading it. Really a great appreciation of a wonderful movie. Raoul Walsh is one of my favorite directors and this is the first of his movies I ever remember seeing--it was on the big screen back in 1952 so I guess that dates me but a movie like this was ideal for my age, both for the adventure and romance.

I guess I'm going to be busy reading all your blogs that touch on events I'm familiar with.

Judgement At Nuremberg caught my attention as I had the privilege of working in it for some 60 days. But more so as the German WWII history always recall my own trials during the war.

I suppose we filmed this around 1959-1960 which is not that long after the ending of the war. Reconstruction in Europe was far from accomplished. For the audience in 1961 this history was still a part of everyone's life.

I was overwhelmed sitting in that set and listening to the greatest actors of that generation orate day after day... an endless live theater.